View full sizeBill Haber, Associated PressThe new college football playoff system is a good step forward from the current BCS model, which pitted Alabama and LSU in last season's title game, MAC Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher says.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Given the chance to be entirely selfish, Mid-American Conference Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher would take the college football playoff system approved Tuesday even further.

Steinbrecher would love to see an eight- or 16-team playoff system.

Surely, the MAC would have its best opportunity at participating in a system expanded to that level. Unquestionably, the MAC would receive a large chunk of money through revenue sharing in that model.

"But I don't think that would be right for the student-athletes," Steinbrecher said. "It doesn't fit within the academic calendar we have, it doesn't fit within the current number of games we play in the regular season. You've got to match the fantasy with the reality."

The long-sought fantasy of college football playoffs became a reality Tuesday when a university presidential oversight committee approved a four-team playoff system that will begin with the 2014 season. The four teams will be chosen by a selection committee -- with the details of who constitutes that committee and how teams will be chosen still to be determined.

Steinbrecher was one of the 11 conference commissioners who met a handful of times since the BCS Championship game in January to come up with a system that might work for everyone.

In the same room, there were representatives from both behemoth conferences with long traditions of dominating the top of the national rankings, and smaller conferences who have long wanted a shot to compete in the big-stage games.

"This whole thing was kind of a fascinating process," Steinbrecher said. "There was an awful lot of give and take throughout the entire process."

The goal was to balance the desires of each conference, the hopes of college football fans who have clamored for a playoff system for years, various bowls that don't want to take financial hits in any championship rearrangement, and even universities that are against extending the college football season beyond one school semester.

And that's not even all of the interested parties.

"Not everybody got everything they wanted. That's just not possible," said Northern Illinois University President John G. Peters, the MAC university representative who voted Tuesday to accept playoffs. "But I think there's enough to satisfy a lot of people. From the perspective of the Mid-American Conference, the opportunity to compete for one of the six bowls involved in the new series and to share proportionately in any enhanced revenue distribution is exciting."

The details still to be hammered out -- including who will select teams for the playoffs and how they will be ranked and chosen -- will determine whether mid-level conferences such as the MAC will experience a palpable advantage with the playoff system.

At worst, Steinbrecher said Wednesday, the four-team playoff proposal is not a step backward.

"I was hopeful for as broad a pool [of games] as possible," Steinbrecher said. That's really what we ended up with. The positive is there's reasonable chances for MAC teams to play into those games if we take care of business on our side on the field."

Follow Us

cleveland.com is powered by Plain Dealer Publishing Co. and Northeast Ohio Media Group. All rights reserved (About Us).The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Northeast Ohio Media Group LLC.